Mainly about Trinity Restaurant

I usually take a fair amount of time off in the summer holiday period. Partly because that's when the twins are off school and partly because it's our "quiet period" (although the quiet bit can vary). bateleur and I rarely go away (mainly because of cost), but to make up for this we tend to do an expensive meal out when the duo are away. So last night we went to Trinity in Clapham and had the five course tasting menu with matched wines.

The evening was wonderful.

• Radishes with a fish dip and freshly baked rolls with butter - These were also served when we arrived as a small extra course. I never previously thought much of radishes, but they were lovely (we were recommended to eat the leaves as well) and went beautifully with the fish dip. The rolls were gorgeous and, sadly, I didn't catch what they were other than home-made. There wasn't a specific wine (it doesn't count as part of the five courses) but we were served our Chablis at this point, then it was topped up with the first course.
• Sweetcorn Soup with Confit Chicken and Summer Truffles (Chablis, Clotilde Davenne, 2011, France) - The soup was tasty, in a way that soups usually aren't - and we both immediately felt we should cook more with sweetcorn. The wine was dry, matched well and I was very fond of it.
• Charred Mackerel, Compressed Watermelon, Cucumber and Dill (Gruner Veltiner, Weingut Geyerhof “Hoher Rain”, 2011, Austria) - This was bateleur's favourite course and the mackerel was fantastic. I liked the fact that it was served with little flowers that had been picked that morning and could be eaten! It went very well with the watermelon and, less surprisingly, with the cucumber and dill. The wine - as bateleur pointed out - was sufficiently crisp that we would not have wanted to drink it on its own, but went remarkably well with the food.
• Scallop filled Courgette Flower, Crab and Samphire (a white from Portugal replacing the one on the menu - sadly I didn't catch the name) - This one confused me at the time as our little menu card said "Baked Stone Bass, Crab and Sampire" and I realised it was a pasting error when I saw the website again (ie. the Bass variant is a main course). However, the scallop-filled flower was very tasty and the accompanying wine was probably the best wine of the five (sadly, the one we don't have a name for!)
• New Season Lamb, Heirloom Tomatoes, Basil and Pine Nut (Gamay, Jean Francois Merieau, "Le Bois Jacou", Loire 2011, France) - I think this was my favourite course. The lamb was slow roast, the tomatoes were orange, green and red and the pine nuts worked really well. The red was incredibly dry (if that's the word) and, whilst it went with the lamb, I don't think I would have wanted it with any other food (or without food).
• Warm Brownie, Fresh Raspberries, Raspberry Sorbet (Glenguin Botrytised Sémillon “The Sticky”, 2009, Australia) - Again this description wasn't quite right as there were no fresh raspberries and instead a cream of some sort (mascopone?). However, a wonderful course - I always like chocolatey desserts - and I didn't feel a lack of raspberries. The dessert wine was lovely and would have been good on its own (in that respect it matched the food less well than the previous four did).
• Coffee and caramel macaroons - bateleur passed on the coffee, but I got two cups out of the pot and my macaroon was lovely.

In addition to the food the staff were friendly and knowledgeable and almost everything was part of the menu price; the exceptions were the coffee course (£4.00 for two cups and macaroons) and the water (unlimited sparkling or still water for £1.50 per person), which we considered a good deal; plus the service charge (12.5%). The radishes and dip, rolls and butter and wine top-up (first course) were not separately charged for. Overall - a wonderful evening and thoroughly recommended.

Today I had my hair cut. It feels odd to have - what I consider - a tiny ponytail, but I suspect only I will notice much difference.